November 15, 2012

THE NASSAU COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES TO
PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY

Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano announced today that the Nassau County Department of Social Services and Nassau County Family Court in partnership with the Long Island Children’s Museum will be participating in National Adoption Day on Monday, November 19, 2012, to finalize the adoptions of 20 children in foster care, making a total of 31 Nassau County adoptions in 2012. The ceremony will take place at the Long Island Children’s Museum, Garden City, NY, beginning at 10:00 AM. Following the ceremony, a reception will be held for families finalizing adoptions and families who have adopted during the year.

November is recognized as National Adoption Month. The purpose of National Adoption Month is to focus attention on children in the Child Welfare system that are in foster care and “freed” or waiting to be adopted.

“This is a wonderful and inspiring celebration. Nassau County is dedicated to building and strengthening our families. We are devoted to ensuring every child freed for adoption has a permanent, loving family. Our goal is a family for every child and we are fortunate to have a number of foster and adoptive families who want to provide children in foster care with permanence,” said County Executive Ed Mangano.

“The Family Court of Nassau County is proud to join with other jurisdictions across the United States in support of National Adoption Day,” added Supervising Judge Edmund M. Dane.

“The Long Island Children’s Museum is pleased to be able to host this wonderful event again, “stated LICM President Suzanne LeBlanc. “The Children’s Museum’s mission is to promote family time and engaging parent/child interaction. We are delighted that today we can provide these ‘newly formed’ families with their first ‘family outing’.” LICM will also provide each new family with a complimentary year-long membership to the Museum.

“This is our eleventh successive year participating in National Adoption Day,” added Social Services Commissioner Dr. John E. Imhof. “Since celebrating this day in 2002, we finalized a total of 184 children during the last ten Adoption Day celebrations. We continue to work hard to find nurturing and loving foster and adoptive parents for every Nassau County child needing a permanent home and family. I encourage anyone who may be interested in fostering or adopting to call the Department of Social Services Foster and Adoptive Resource unit, at 516-227-8279 for further information.”